Tech

Resurrected? Lamar Smith plans piecemeal push to zombify SOPA

Matt Pitchford Contributor
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With the rash of zombie-related news recently, it seems Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

He is expected to officially present legislation that takes sections of the Stop Online Piracy Act and reanimates them in a more powerful way, Techdirt reported Monday.

Smith, the author of SOPA, remained undeterred earlier this year as popular support waned for his original bill. Now, he has apparently taken a piecemeal approach to getting sections of it passed.

Where SOPA said it would create “attaches” who are tasked with providing “aggressive support for enforcement action” in other countries, Smith’s new bill would give these agents more power.

Techdirt criticized the move, calling attaches “Hollywood’s special thugs.”  

According to the bill, the attaches’ role is “to advance the intellectual property rights of United States persons and their licensees.”

The draft of the bill also sets up the agents as an independent agency, rather than a part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

While there was outrage and protest from Internet activists over SOPA, they may not be able to mobilize against every measure if Smith continues his fast-track and fragmented approach.

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